And a breakdown of the report’s state-by-state figures shows Texas with the second highest rate last year of intersection violations per licensed driver: one such violation for every 25 drivers. Only New York was worse, according to the report’s statistics.

“All of the findings point to a clear conclusion: distracted driving increases red-light running and puts lives at risks,” the report’s executive summary says. “Fewer distractions on the road will ultimately save lives.”

The report, part of a Stop Distraction on Red campaign, looked over a three-month period at 118 red-light safety cameras in 19 communities in Arizona, California and Colorado. Researchers found that 12 percent of red-light violations during that time were caused by distracted driving.

The study’s authors then used a series of projections to come up with the national and state figures. So keep in mind that those broader numbers are estimates and not something more concrete.

The report argues that lax distracted driving laws contribute to more red light violations. And Texas — near the top of the study’s list — would seem to fit that bill.

Texas is one of nine states that doesn’t completely ban texting while driving, although the state does prohibit the activity for school bus drivers and younger motorists. Efforts during this year’s legislative session to enact a complete ban went nowhere.

But other states near the top of the study’s list already ban texting while driving — and in some cases, prohibit all handheld use while behind the wheel. So even though distracted driving is without question dangerous, the state-by-state picture appears to be a bit more complicated.

Please see the jump to look at the full report and a breakdown of the top 10 states.

A woman reads her cellphone at a stoplight in Arlington, which has a city ordinance against texting while driving. (Elisabeth Dillon/DMN file photo)

Staff writer Julie Bird reports:

A survey released by AT&T reports that nearly half of commuters admit to texting while driving.

Although the 1,011 commuters surveyed said they knew the risks, 49 percent still admitted to doing it, and 43 percent of those who did called it a habit.

Surprisingly, it appears that a smaller percentage of teens text while driving, since only 43 percent of the teens in a separate survey admitted to texting while driving.

“Texting while driving is not just a teen problem,” John Ulczycki of the National Safety Council told USA Today. “Teens text. But you’re looking at around 10 million teen drivers, but about 180 million other adult drivers.”

The problem also appears to have gotten worse. According to AT&T, which has launched an anti-texting campaign, six in 10 commuters say they never texted while driving three years ago.

The issue has gained attention in the Texas Legislature, where former House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, has proposed a bill that would ban the practice.

“You’re infringing on my rights, to be truthful, when you’re texting and driving, on my right to be safe on the road,” Craddick said when he proposed the legislation last month.

The Legislature passed a similar bill two years ago, but it was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry, who called it government overreach.

A man works his phone as he drives through traffic in Dallas, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013.

Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez, a native Texan, urged his home state on Friday to adopt a complete ban on texting while driving, saying that the dangerous activity “ought to have some level of consequence.”

“As somebody who grew up in Texas, I hope someday Texas will in fact pass the laws to restrict texting and while driving,” said Mendez, who grew up in El Paso. “I know it’s controversial, but from a safety standpoint, it’s very, very crucial to our efforts nationwide.”

Mendez called for action as he and other officials gathered in Grand Prairie to celebrate the success of the President George Bush Turnpike’s western extension. The 11.5-mile North Texas Tollway Authority stretch opened in October.

Mendez highlighted the distracted driving issue — a frequent talking point of his boss, outgoing U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood — as he made broader push for safety on the nation’s highways.

Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have a complete ban on texting while driving. Texas prohibits drivers younger than 18 from using handheld devices and bans all drivers from using cell phones and other devices in school zones.

Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez speaks Friday at a dedication of the President George Bush Turnpike in Grand Prairie.

But a complete texting while driving ban has proved harder to enact. Such a measure passed both the House and Senate two years ago, but the proposed ban was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry.

State lawmakers — such as Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland — are once again pushing the texting and driving ban. And while Mendez declined to offer a personal appeal to Perry, he said he hoped this year is a success.

“Having those laws in place will help think through, ‘Do I really want to do this?’” Mendez said.

As for the Bush Turnpike western extension, Mendez echoed NTTA chairman Kenneth Barr, Texas Department of Transportation director Phil Wilson and others in praising the project as a model of cooperation between several different agencies.

The $535 million project benefited from a $20 million federal grant and a $418 million federal low interest loan through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. And without that, Mendez said, “we may not be here today.”

“That shows the partnership that’s so important when it comes not just to the execution, but the really funding that is necessary to create these kinds of big projects,” Mendez said.

Grand Prairie Mayor Charles England and others also said the road was an example of how infrastructure improvements can fuel the economy. England detailed how the extension was already spurring major development along the corridor, and it was a point not lost on Mendez.

“When you invest in transportation — and in infrastructure overall — you create a lot of jobs,” Mendez said.

The report, released Tuesday, shows that 240 16- and 17-year-olds died in car accidents in the first six months of 2012. That’s up from 212 such fatalities in the first half of 2011, but less than the early 2000s, when there were routinely more than 400 such deaths in the first half of those years.

And while these teenage driving deaths account for only a small part of all roadway fatalities — more 32,000 people died in vehicle crashes in 2011 — the numbers provide a sobering backdrop for talk of texting while driving bans and other safety measures aimed especially at younger drivers.

“We know from research and experience that teen drivers are not only a danger to themselves, but also a danger to others on the roadways,” Kendell Poole, the association’s chairman, said in a news release. “So these numbers are a cause for concern.”

The report attributes the recent national increase to a couple different things. First, the benefit of state graduated driver licensing laws may be leveling off, since those have been on the books for awhile now. And second, an improving economy has allowed more teens to take up driving.

(Texas had 14 16- to 17-year-old driver fatalities in the first half of 2012, down from 16 such deaths in the first part of 2011. But the figures are too small to draw many conclusions on a state-by-state basis.)

With that in mind, the Governors Highway Safety Association is recommending that states bolster their driving education and training — and that includes looking at distracted driving measures.

Such a measure – which would proponents say would help raise awareness about the issue – passed both the House and Senate last session. But the proposed ban was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry.

The Governors Highway Safety Association’s report says “distracted driving is a particular problem for teenagers given their inexperience combined with their high dependence on electronic equipment and frequent travel with peer passengers.”

But even though 39 states and the District of Columbia already have complete texting while driving bans, the report’s author, Dr. Allan Williams, echoed some other road safety advocates in seeming a bit nonplussed about the intense focus on the practice.

Jennifer Smith, who lost her mom when a driving using a mobile device crashed into her in 2008, will join Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. CST to announce a global campaign against what Smith calls a growing and dangerous epidemic. (See a Q&A with Smith here.)

Also present will be Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who has made the campaign against distracted driving perhaps the department’s top public-awareness priority, and the and the Russian and American ambassadors to the U.N.

A U.N. spokeswoman confirmed the event, and said while it originated from the Americans it will be part of a global effort to reduce the use of mobile devices by drivers.

Photo information: Above, a sign in Houston advertising a new ban on the use of cell phones by drivers. Above right, Jennifer Smith testifies at the Oklahoma legislature.Continue reading →

And we thought Texans were in love with rough and ready justice. But not even the steeliest-eyed Texas Ranger has anything on the country as a whole when it comes to throwing the book at drivers who send or receive text messages while driving.

A new New York Times poll found that 97 percent of Americans think other people who text while behind the wheel should be charged with a crime. When was the last time Americans agreed on anything so overwhelmingly?

Almost as many, eight out of 10, said talking on the phone is just as bad. And here’s the real eye-opener: Fully half of those surveyed said that the punishment for texting should be just as severe as drunk driving. (For you data geeks, and welcome to the club, here’s a summary of the methods behind the poll.)

That means time in the slammer in many cases. Book ‘em, Dano.

Britain has gone even further — sending drivers to prison who send, or even receive, text messages and then are involved in a fatal crash. They call the crime dangerous driving, and have even sent a peer of the realm to prison.